Unidirectional Wetting in the Hydrophobic Wenzel Regime

Unidirectional wetting surfaces can cause liquid droplets to flow/move in one direction while pinning them in the other directions, a feature that is useful for biosensing, adhesives, thermal management, and microfluidics. Such surfaces can be fabricated by employing structurally or chemically asymmetric nanostructures. While unidirectional wetting in the hydrophobic Wenzel regime had previously been observed on surfaces decorated with chemically asymmetric nanostructures, it has yet to be demonstrated on structurally asymmetric nanostructures. Based on the current understanding of the phenomenon, this can only be achieved using highly bent nanowires. Here, evidence to the contrary is provided by showing that mildly bent nanowires can also bring about unidirectional wetting in the hydrophobic Wenzel regime, even for contact angles beyond the superhydrophobic limit. Using NaCl precipitation, the unidirectional wetting mechanism is analyzed on a nanoscale level and it is found that the criteria for unidirectional wetting to take place in the hydrophobic Wenzel regime are different from that in the hydrophilic Wenzel regime. Moreover, it is revealed that slight wetting in the pinned direction can be caused by large scale deformation of high aspect ratio nanostructures during droplet spreading, which may be part of the reason behind previous observations of near‐unidirectional wetting on bent nanowires with high aspect ratios.     

含氟季铵盐的动态界面张力性能和润湿铺展性能

含氟季铵盐表面活性剂是一类具有高表面活性、高耐热稳定性、高化学稳定性和憎水、憎油等特殊性能的表面活性剂。该文通过测定不同时间、不同种类的油相、不同质量分数的表面活性剂以及不同无机盐添加比例对油水界面张力的影响以及不同浓度的含氟季铵盐表面活性剂水溶液在石蜡、金属铁等不同固体表面上的接触角,对其动态界面张力以及润湿铺展性能进行了研究。结果表明:界面张力值通常在10 min后基本达到平衡,且用渤61#油做油相时,界面张力值较低,效果比较好;随着表面活性剂质量分数的增加,界面张力先减小,达到一个最低值后渐渐趋于平缓;无机盐的加入使得界面张力先降后升,在Na Cl质量浓度为50~80 g/L内均降至低界面张力,最低值达到0.053 1 m N/m;同时,在典型的具有强疏水性的低能表面石蜡上的铺展性能优良。该研究为其在水溶性场合的应用提供了实验数据。     

Initial rapid wetting in metallic systems

The initial rapid wetting of a solid surface by a liquid phase is an important step in many industrial processes. Liquid-phase sintering of powder metallurgical steels is one such industrial process, where metallic powders of micrometer size are used. Investigating the dynamic wetting of a high-temperature metallic drop of micrometer size experimentally is very challenging. Here, a phase-field-based numerical model is first implemented and verified by accurately capturing the initial dynamic wetting of millimeter-sized metal drops and then the model is extended to predict the dynamic wetting of a micrometer-sized metal drop. We found, in accordance with recent observations, that contact line friction is required for accurate simulation of dynamic wetting. Our results predict the wetting time for a micrometer-sized metal drop and also indicate that the dynamic wetting patterns at the micro- and millimeter length scales are qualitatively similar. We also found that the wetting process is much faster for a micrometer-sized metal drop compared to a millimeter-sized metal drop.     

Interfacial Interactions in Polymers: The Dependence of the Measured Surface Tension of Solid Polymer on the Surface Tension of Wetting Liquid

Careful measurements of the surface tension of solid polymers, y_s , based on the data on contact angles for wetting liquids with various surface tension, y_L , allows one to establish the functional dependence of y_s = f(y_L ). This dependence is divided into three zones: one zone, where there is no dependence of y_s on y_L and two zones where y_s changes linearly with y_L .     

Simulation of Liquid Diffusion-Controlled Drying of Shrinking Thin Slabs Subjected to Multiple Heat Sources

Abstract

Although a detailed mathematical model incorporating all physical mechanisms of moisture and heat transfer in the material would yield valuable design information, it is not feasible to do this on a routine basis for the design of dryers. A simple liquid diffusion model was developed in the present study to quantitatively assess the influence of various operating parameters of engineering interest in drying of heat-sensitive materials. Heat of wetting, temperature, and moisture dependent effective diffusivity and thermal conductivity, changes in product density and drying-induced ideal shrinkage of the product are considered in this model. The effects of combining convection with conduction, radiation, and volumetric heating using a microwave field are simulated in view of the increasing interest in multimode heat input drying processes. Numerical results are reported on drying of potato slices to demonstrate how the moisture and temperature profiles as well as drying performance are affected by multi-mode heat input. Effects of key parameters e.g., drying air velocity, temperature, relative humidity, and product thickness are computed and discussed.     

THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DIFFUSION PROCESS INSIDE PROLATE SPHEROIDAL SOLIDS

ABSTRACT

A numerical solution of the diffusion equation to describe solute transport inside ellipsoids, assuming a constant difiusion coefficient and a corrective boundary condition, is presented. The difiusion equation in a prolate spheroidal coordinate system was used for a hidimensional case. The finite volume method was employed to discretize the basic equation, utilizing a uniform grid size. The equation was solved irteratively using the Gauss-Seidel method. The effect of Biot number and the aspect ratio of the body on diffusion rate and concentration during the process is presented. Plots are presented for Biot numbers from 0.05 to infinity and aspect ratios of 1.1, 2.0 and 5.0. To investigate the effect of the aspect ratio, different results changing the aspect ratio for Bi= 1.0 are shown. The results show that the model is consistent and it may be used to solve other cases such as those that include cylinder and sphere geometry, and/ or those with variable diffusion coefficients with small modifications.     

Wetting Transitions on Post-Built and Porous Reliefs

Abstract

A comparative study of wetting transitions on porous and post-built polymer surfaces is reported. The transitions were observed under vibration of droplets of different volumes deposited on the surfaces possessing controlled roughness. Initial wetting states were identified as the Cassie air-trapping (‘Fakir’) state for porous and the Wenzel state for post-built relief, whereas the final wetting state was the Cassie impregnating one for both kinds of surfaces. For both porous and post-built surfaces, wetting transitions occurred under constant force acting on a unit length of the three-phase (triple) line. Wetting transitions for both porous and post-built surfaces start from the triple line.     

Wetting and adhesion of water-borne printing inks on surface-modified polyolefins

Polyolefin films were surface-modified by different methods to improve the wetting and adhesion of water-borne printing inks. Polyethylene (PE) films were treated with corona at various energy levels. Surface-modified PE films were characterized by contact angle measurements and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA). Good wetting was already achieved with treatment at a lower energy level. Various degrees of adhesion were obtained at various degrees of treatment. A hydrophilic monomer, 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA), was polymerized onto the surfaces of polypropylene (PP) with radiation-induced grafting, which was carried out at two different radiation doses. In both cases, a thick, visible layer of polyHEMA was formed on the surface of PP, and satisfactory wetting was already achieved at lower radiation doses. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that different degrees of roughness were achieved at various radiation doses. Like the case of corona-treated PE, different degrees of adhesion were obtained at different degrees of surface treatment. This study shows that improved wetting alone is not satisfactory for good practical adhesion', regardless of the surface modification method used.     

Wetting of Al2O3-Based Oxide Ceramics by Molten Aluminum

The temperature dependence has been determined for the wetting by molten aluminum of materials based on aluminum oxide (polycor and corundum). A temperature range has been identified in which the wetting increases significantly. There is no effect on the wetting characteristics of these oxide materials from the addition to the aluminum of up to 25% silicon, 33% copper, or 6% nickel.